September 2013 – Digging Up Your Family

Wendell Reed Alcorn

I really should have done this post on September 20th. The 3rd Friday of September is always National POW/MIA Recognition Day. However, to be honest, it didn’t dawn on me to do a post about this until the other day. On my newsfeed I saw that my mother answered a question posed by a particular page asking “how many of you still have your POW/MIA bracelets?” To which I knew she had answered that she still had hers. I sent her a message asking if she ever looked the soldier up and she said that she did. Then I got the bright idea to do a post on him, especially when I found his story.

note: I am currently watching a documentary about the USS Enterprise on the Smithsonian channel called Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise. It has been very informative.

My mother writes:

“In 1966 I had the opportunity to purchase a Vietnam POW or MIA bracelet. As I recall my POW bracelet was $2.00. Along with all POWs and MIAs, LCDR Wendell Alcorn, 12/22/1965, was the individual POW I prayed for and thought about every day. In 1973 the return of POWs was broadcast on TV, and I sat watching and listening for his name as each POW walked from planes back onto US soil. I knew he had to have returned, but somehow I missed hearing his name. Perhaps I merely missed hearing his name because I was sobbing with joy at their return.”

Photo courtesy of The Kittanning Paper, April 6, 2012.

Found at POW Network:

“When nuclear powered USS ENTERPRISE arrived on Yankee Station on December 2, 1965, she was the largest warship ever built. She brought with her not only an imposing physical presence, but also an impressive component of warplanes and the newest technology. Her air wing (CAG 9) consisted of
more than ninety aircraft. Among her attack squadrons were VA 36, VA 93, VA 76 and VA 94. She launched her opening combat strike against targets in North Vietnam on December 17, and by the end of her first week of combat operations, the ENTERPRISE had set a record of 165 combat sorties in a
single day, surpassing the KITTY HAWK’s 131. By the end of her first combat cruise, her air wing had flown over 13,000 combat sorties. The record had not been achieved without cost.

On December 22, the ENTERPRISE teamed with the carriers KITTY HAWK and TICONDEROGA in one of the war’s biggest strikes to date, with one hundred aircraft hitting the thermal power plant at Uong Bi located fifteen miles north-northeast of the city of Haiphong. This was the first industrial target authorized by the Johnson administration. The ENTERPRISE’s aircraft approached from the north and the KITTY HAWK/TICONDEROGA force from the south, leaving the plant in shambles. The day’s casualties were two A4Cs from the ENTERPRISE, an RA5C Vigilante, and an A6A Intruder — six Americans shot down.

One of the A4s was flown by LTJG Wendell R. Alcorn, a pilot from Attack Squadron 36 onboard the ENTERPRISE. Alcorn’s aircraft was shot down about 15 miles north-northeast of Haiphong and he was captured by the North Vietnamese. For the next 7 years, Alcorn was a "guest" in the Hanoi prison system. He was ultimately released in Operation Homecoming on Valentine’s Day, 1973.”

Also on POW Network:

Toluca Lake, CA 91602 Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and spelling errors).

UPDATE – 03/97 by the P.O.W. NETWORK, Skidmore, MO

WENDELL R. ALCORN

Lieutenant Commander – United States Navy

Shot Down: December 22, 1965

Released: February 12, 1973

On 23 November 1939 I entered this world in a rural community near Snyderville, Pennsylvania, located in the western part of the state. I grew up in this community along with my older brother and younger sister. I remember well the many evenings that I would lie in our back yard watching the crossing contrails of the fighter aircraft practicing their tactics overhead. My future was being determined.

I attended high school in the nearby town of Dayton, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1957. My next destination was the Pennsylvania State University where I majored in forestry and was a member of the Delta Theta Sigma fraternity. I graduated from Penn State in 1961.

My life long dream of flying was finally fulfilled in October 1961 when the U.S. Navy accepted me into the flight training program. On 16 March 1962 I proudly accepted my commission and began flight training. On 14 June 1963 I became a qualified Naval Aviator. After a short tour at the NAVAL Justice School I arrived at Cecil Field, Florida where I joined my squadron, Attack Squadron 36, flying the A4 Skyhawk. Shortly after returning from a Mediterranean Cruise aboard "Saratoga," my squadron joined Air Group 9 aboard the USS Enterprise for a West Pac cruise. My first combat tour was cut short when on 22 December 1965 after twenty days and twenty-nine combat missions, I was shot down and captured in North Vietnam.

I was sustained during those long years in prison by my faith in God, faith in my government, and faith in my fellow countrymen. I knew I had not been nor would ever be forgotten. Upon my repatriation, I was overjoyed to find that these faiths which gave me so much help and comfort were not merely figments of my imagination, but were very true and real.

I thank you great American people for your support, your prayers and for your faith in me. God bless you all.”

According to Military Times, Mr. Alcorn was presented the following awards: two Silver Stars, four Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Prisoner of War Medal.

An interesting side note: I read a newspaper article about Mr. Alcorn written roughly 6 months after his return home that has his name as Ray Alcorn. According to the article the name Ray is a nickname he got in the Navy when people guessed wrong what his middle initial stood for. And it just stuck!

I would also like to take a second to mentions others from the USS Enterprise, as listed on the United States Navy website on their USS Enterprise Memorial Page:

Prisoners of War

LCDR Alfred Howard Agnew

LTJG Joseph Scott Mobley

LCDR Edwin Arthur Shuman III

LTJG Wendell Reed Alcorn

CDR James Alfred Mulligan

LTJG Bradley Edsel Smith

LTJG Frederick C. Baldock Jr.

CDR Gordon R. Nakagawa

LTJG Larry Howard Spencer

< p>LTJG Glenn Henri Daigle

LCDR Robert J. Naughton

LCDR William Robert Stark

LCDR Dale W. Doss

LT Giles R. Norrington

LT Richard G. Tangeman

LT Kenneth H. Higdon

LTJG Richard R. Ratzlaff

ENS Gary Lynn Thorton

LCDR Eugene Baker McDaniel

LTJG William Leonard Shankel

LCDR Phillip Allen Kientzler

Missing In Action

LCDR Kurt W. Barich

LTJG Meredith Carol Loughran

LTJG Charles E. Woodward

CDR Billie Jack Cartwright

LT Edward Frances "Sully" Sullivan

Died In Captivity

LTJG James Scott Graham

LT James Kelly Patterson

Killed In Action

LTJG Paul M. Artlip

LT Michael F. Haifley

LT John Douglas Prudhomme

LTJG Paul Victor Carlson

CDR Harley Hubert Hall

CDR Edgar Arthur Rawsthorne

LT Nicholas M. Carpenter

LT Arthur Sinclair Hill, Jr.

CDR Richard Rich

LT Ramey L. Carpenter

LTJG William F. Kohlrusch

LTJG James Thomas Ruffin

LT Frank Ray Compton

CDR Glenn Edward Kollmann

LCDR Thomas Edwin Scheurich

LCDR Henry A. Coons

ADJ1 Melvin Thomas Krech

CDR Peter W. Sherman

LT Edward Frank Gold

LTJG Richard Clive Lannom

LT Thomas Stegman

Maj Russell C. Goodman

LCDR Max Duane Lukenbach

LCDR John Bethel Tapp

CDR William Ronald Grayson

LTJG Donald Clay Maclaughlin, Jr.

LCDR John Mark Tiderman

LT John Gary Griffith

LCDR Paul W. Paine

CDR Danforth E. White

Killed in the Flight Deck Fire of January 14, 1969

FA Paul Akers

ASH3 Roger L. Holbrook

ABE3 Jacob J. Quintis

AN David M. Asbury

AN Dale L. Hunt

BM2 James C. Snipes

LTJG Carl D. Berghult

AOAN Donald R. Lacy

AN Russell J. Tyler

LTJG James H. Berry

ADJ3 Armando Limon

AN LaVerne R. VonFeldt

AO3 Richard W. Bovaird

AME3 Dennis E. Marks

AN Robert C. Ward Jr.

AE Patrick L. Bullington

ABH1 James P. Martineau

AN John R. Webster

AMS3 James R. Floyd Jr.

AOAN Joseph C. Mason

AMS2 Henry S. Yates, Jr.

AN Ernest L. Foster

AMH2 Dennis R. Milburn

AMS3 Jerome D. Yoakum

AN Delbert D. Girty

AN Joseph W. Oates

AEC Ronald E. Hay

LTJG Buddy D. Pyeatt

Killed in the Line of Duty While Serving Aboard ENTERPRISE (CVN 65)

CDR Robert Anderson

MM3 Micah Hill

LT Jack L. Pedersen

LCDR Kurt W. Barich

LT Arthur S. Hill

AA Barry E. Peterman

LTJG Darwin F. Ball

LCDR Jeff Hillard

MM2 Gregory S. Peters

LT Ronald R. Bradley

MM2 Darek T. Hutt

RIO David Hewitt Philo

AN John R. Burch

William Larry Johnson

RMC Larry M. Pope

CWO4 Brashear

CDR James M. Joyce

LTJG Charles Roy

Samuel Walter Clayman

ENS Joseph B. Kelly, Jr.

AN David Frank Sahr

AMS3 Edwin H. Clements

Robert Kelly

EM3 Charles J. Sanders

Clarence Cottle

LSCM Richard J. Kessler, Jr.

MM2 Jason M. Sheets

EM2 David D. Decker

Charles Henry Kruse

LCDR Robert J. Simonic

LTJG Brendan J. Duffy

TN Benjamin R. Lauretta

OSC Patrick C. Smith

LT Joseph Durmon

LTJG Meredith Loughran

AW2 David Stetrom

ATC Richard H. Edwards

AW1 Josheph R. Lucas

LCDR Paul A. Stokes

LTJG Steven Engeman

FA Joseph L. Lyrian, Jr.

LT Edward Frances Sullivan

CDR Lauren R. Everett

LTJG Edward L. Maas, Jr.

LCDR Martin J. Sullivan

ETR2 George M. Fasching

PO2 Marble

LT Edward P. Szeyller

AO1 Vincent Filpi

ENS David E. Martin

CDR Albert J. Thompson

Jesse Benton Forney, Jr.

MACM Steven D. Martin

AW1 Steve Voight

LCDR William A. Hall

LTJG Thomas L. Masten

ADC John E. Webb

DC3 Robert A. Hastings

FN Gary W. Menard

LT Robert Wood

LT James G. Hicks

AMSAN Brian S. Mullen

LTJG Charles E. Woodward

EM3 Michael Bowden

Eric Sauerborn

MA2 Robert F. Miner III

LCDR Robert F. Hansen

ATN3 James H. Dorrell

Breedlove v Bidwell, McLean County, Kentucky

I had thought I was ready to start a post on Cornelius Vaughn (Vaughan) Breedlove, my 3rd great-grandfather, however I am not. I realized that I don’t have a birth date and a death date pinpointed for Cornelius. I did call the church where he is buried and I am awaiting a call back concerning the caretakers of the cemetery and/or the possibility of a cemetery book. In the meantime, I found something that tells me it is possible that Cornelius died prior to 1885. It is a court case concerning land that was purchased, then later the sale was reversed.

Published in the November 18, 1899 Morning Herald (Lexington, Kentucky, page 4):

COURT OF APPEALS

FRANKFORT, Ky., Nov. 17. –Present, Chief Justice Hazelrigg and Judges Paynter, Burnam and Hobson.

Shuck, etc., vs. City of Lebanon, Marion; reversed.

Clark vs. Finley, Surpart, etc., Kenton; reversed.

Breedlove vs. Bidwell, etc., McLean; reversed.

Smith vs. First National Bank, Laurel; affirmed with damages.

Cincinnati Times-Star Company vs. France, Kenton; motion to set aside dismissal sustained, case reinstated, motion for oral argument overruled and time given to file briefs.

Found in The Southwestern Reporter, Volume 53:

BREEDLOVE v. BIDWELL

Court of Appeals of Kentucky. Nov. 17, 1899

JUDGEMENT AGAINST NONRESIDENT-FAILURE TO MOVE FOR NEW TRIAL-HOMESTEAD-RIGHTS OF DESERTED WIFE.

…Appeal from circuit court, McLean county. “Not to be officially reported.”

Action by Bettie Bidwell against Elizabeth Breedlove to recover real estate. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

W.B. Noe and Jonson & Wickliffe, for appellant. W.A. Taylor and Little & Little, for appellee.

BURNAM, J. This is an appeal from the McLean circuit court, adjudging to appellee a house and two lots in the town of Sacramento, Ky. These facts appear from the pleadings and evidence: Previous to March, 1881, M.A. Bidwell occupied the premises in controversy as a homestead, with his family, which consisted of his wife (the appellee here) and three children. In March of that year he left Kentucky to go to Arkansas, ostensibly to sell the patent right of a shingle machine of which he was the patentee, and never thereafter returned to this state. He left his wife and children in the occupancy of the dwelling house, where they continued to live for several months. Some time in the winter or early spring of 1882, Mrs. Bidwell, with the children, moved to the residence of her brother, and rented out the homestead. In May, 1882, three creditors of M.A. Bidwell (H.G. McEwan, W.L. Bland, and H.B. Morehead) instituted suits in equity against M.A. Bidwell, setting up debts against him, and at the same time suing out attachments on the grounds that he had become a nonresident, and had been absent from the state for more than four months, which were levied upon the property in contest. M.A. Bidwell was brought before the court by constructive service, and at the July term, 1883, of the McLean circuit court, judgment was entered in these consolidated actions sustaining the attachments, and directing a sale of the property. McEwan, one of the attaching creditors, bought it, and the sale was confirmed, and a writ of possession issued to him. Subsequently he sold and conveyed the property to appellant (Elizabeth Breedlove), and she remained in the undisturbed possession thereof until the 18th day of December, 1896, when appellee instituted this suit to recover the possession of the house and lots, and for a reasonable rent thereof, upon the ground that, at the time of the sale of the property under the judgment in favor of the creditors of her husband, he was a bona fide housekeeper, with a family, resident of this commonwealth, and occupied the premises as a homestead, and that it was of less value that $1,000, and alleging that this homestead had not been abandoned by her husband prior to its sale under the judgment, and that she has been continuously a resident of this state all of the time…

What this means, as far as I am understanding it (and if you go to the link and read the rest of it then it will make sense) is that McEwan sold the homestead to Elizabeth Breedlove herself, not Cornelius, and then the sale was reversed in 1899. This makes sense as to why Elizabeth was living as a boarder in the home of Peter Scott in 1900.

We Don’t Lay Down For Nobody

Ed Bondurant made up some postcards to send out inviting Bondurant descendants to the Bondurant Family Association Annual meeting at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving this year. Unfortunately, the only Bondurants I know are in the BFA and my own family. However, I figure by posting it here I may be able to let other Bondurant folks know what’s up!

BFA website: www.bondurant-family.org

BFA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/groups/142740453048/

Bondurant School of High Performance Driving website: www.bondurant.com

William Brian Buchanan

Last Friday a larger than life person passed after a long battle with cancer. His friends left words of condolence on his Facebook wall describing him: inspiring, loyal, gentle giant, kind, funny, wonderful sense of humor, brave. Many people will never forget his laugh. Or the way he could turn any conversation into something more colorful. As for me, I was able to visit him for the first time in a long time a few months ago. And I am glad I was able to speak to him one last time the Saturday before he passed. He most certainly was loved by many, many people. I hope the funeral home knows how many people are going to show up for him!

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Woods

WILLIAM BRIAN BUCHANAN

Portion of obituary courtesy of McKoon Funeral Home.

William Brian Buchanan “Brian”, 41, of Newnan, Ga., passed away on September 13, 2013 Brian was born in Austell, Ga. on October 20, 1971. He graduated from Mililani High School in Hawaii, attended Austin Peay State University in Tennessee and continued on to receive a Computer Tech degree from West Georgia Technical College in Carrollton, Ga.

Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.mckoon.com

Memorial services will be held Saturday, September 21 at 2:00 pm in the chapel of McKoon Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be given to St. Jude Cancer Research Center: http://www.stjude.org/waystohelp. McKoon Funeral Home 38 Jackson St. Newnan, GA 30263 770-253-4580.

DeMumbrie’s and Richards’ Plantations Under Water

If you will remember (or if you haven’t been here before and this is new to you) I mentioned back in June that I think I found approximately when Spencer DeMumbrie died. I gave the dates I was estimating as between September 1874 and September 1876. However, after mulling it over, and speaking with my mother numerous times, I believe I can shorten the length of time to something more approximate. I made a call to the Mississippi Archives to see if they they knew if there were any specific months that the taxes would have been done in the 1870s, but they didn’t. However, they did confirm that if Spencer’s estate paid taxes in 1876 then he would have died between the 1875 tax season and the 1876 tax season. Then I remembered that at the end of every year the county sections were recapitulated and sworn and signed on specific days that the information was true. In 1874 that date was June 30th. In 1876 that date was September 4th. So, given the furthest dates possible, I would say Spencer died sometime between May 1, 1875 and September 4, 1876. That is still a lot of time to cover.

I am not saying that I know what happened to Spencer. If I had to guess I would say it is possible he either a) drowned, or b) died of pneumonia. Don’t hold me to that. The reasoning, however, is due to a terrible flood that occurred in the latter half of 1875 to Spencer’s plantation. I will not transcribe the entire news article, as it is very long, but here are portions of the story that appeared on the front page in the August 3, 1875 issue of the Memphis Daily Appeal:

GENERAL INUNDATION

The reports of the doings of the rivers above here the past twenty-four hours are anything else by encouraging; on the contrary, they are of a most disheartening character. Up to yesterday afternoon, we saw some hope for the planters in the Mississippi valley, but the dispatches and the official report of the signal service bureau have begotten a different feeling, and we are almost disposed to give up the ship. Still, there are those who believe there will not be a general disaster, but we fear their opinions are not well-founded…

…The only great disaster yet known between Memphis and Friar’s point is at Demummer’s bend, where the water is running with tremendous current through the fields. At Richard’s bend, just below, the water is covering a good deal of cotton, but as yet not so effectually at its mercy as at the Demummer place…

I would assume that the newspaper would have mentioned his death, and it may have and was just transcribed wrong. But now I have it narrowed down within roughly 16 months. Keep your fingers crossed!

Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that George Washington Richards, Esq died of pneumonia on September 2, 1875. Being Edmund’s son and Jerome’s brother, he would have been living at the Richard’s plantation. So the idea of death by pneumonia after slogging through a flooded plantation isn’t that hard to imagine, or any other illness or disease that may be the product of a flood.

A Mystery Unbottled at DeMumbrie’s Landing

I had found some interesting documents pertaining to Spencer DeMumbrie, but it is going to take a bit to transcribe them. So I decided to share this newspaper article that mentions his river landing! It appeared on page three of the November 26, 1868 edition of the Memphis Daily Avalanche. All typos are left intact in the transcription.

A MYSTERY UNBOTTLED.

Letter to the Avalanche Found Floating in a Bottle on the Mississippi.

A Memphian Corks up His Sorrows and Prepares to Leave the World.

On the 16th of November a bottle, well corked, was found floating down the Mississippi river at Demumbrie Landing, about one hundred and fifty miles below Memphis. The bottle contained a note written on a smooth bristol board card and signed J. S. Jones, whoever that is or was. The tenor of the note is that he was about to throw himself overboard and trust to the hospitality of catfish and mud-turtles. Whether he carried his intention out and now sleeps in a watery grave

“With scarce a shred to tell of human form,

Or fragment for the seabird or the worm.”

or reconsidered the motion he made to jump over, or laid it on the table, is purely conjectural. At the time of writing the note its author must have had a steady hand, for the chirography is smoothe and business-like. If we could call spirits from the vasty deep we would ask them if any such man as Jones found his way to the locker on the 12th of October; as it is, we do not know any one named J. S. Jones who ever lived in Memphis. One presumption is that somebody bottled up the card and cast it upon the waters as a practical joke, to see if it would come back after many days in the newspapers. Another presumption is that some man, temporarily disgusted with life, wrote the note and threw it overboard from some boat, but failed to follow the bottle any further than the guards. Possibly he had followed the bottle to much before that time to feel like trusting himself all alone in so much water. Here is the note, verbatim:

October 12 1868

Good bye. Should this ever be picked up the finder will confer a great favor by allowing it to be published, so as my friends may know what as become of the poor, miserable creature that I am. Send it to the Memphis AVALANCHE, as that is my dear home, and all that are near and dear to me live there. The cause of this rash act will never be known. I often wish I had gone with our lost cause, which I done my all to sustain. Now for the deep waters of the Mississippi.

J. S. Jones

When we read the concluding sentence we almost hear a heavy splash in the water, and see a struggling form which repents of rashness, alas, too late, go down, and see the waves close over him in the distance and forever. If such a person ever lived in Memphis, his friends can see the card just as it was taken from the bottle by a citizen of Demumbrie’s Landing, Mississippi, by calling at the AVALANCHE office. The card was slightly damaged by the water, but the writing is as plain as when first traced.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this was made up by the newspaper to sell more copies. No doubt a bottled note was probably found at DeMumbrie’s Landing, however…I bet the newspaper wrote it, bottled it, and cast it in the water, just waiting to see it return so they could then write about it.

Edward Wesley Block

Arizona Pioneer and Cemetery Research Project (www.apcrp.org) member.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF EDWARD WESLEY BLOCK

DECEMBER 8, 1938 TO SEPTEMBER 1,2013

Ed Block was born December 8, 1938, in St. Helens, Oregon, the oldest son of John and Elsie (Bandeen) Block. When Ed was a small boy, the family moved to Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Washington High School in 1955 and enlisted in the Army, He served two years active duty in Germany.
He enrolled in Portland State University and graduated with a B.S. in Psychology in 1963. Later he was in the M.B.A. program. Ed married Kathy (Katherine Buehler) on June 5, 1964. Most of his career he was with Multnomah County Juvenile Court in Portland.

Throughout most of their 48 years together, Ed and Kathy traveled extensively to Hawaii, Europe, Mexico, and Australia, as well as most of the U.S. Upon the retirement of both (Kathy taught special education), they moved to Lake Havasu City full-time in 2002. In the S.W. they enjoyed adventures with their 4×4 Toyota and a small beat-up trailer to the back county to prospect for gold, bow hunt for javelina, hike, go spelunking, study astronomy, explore ghost towns and pioneer cemeteries, and do photography. Ed was a booster in the Arizona Pioneer and Cemetery Research Project and participated in research and preservation of pioneer cemeteries in Arizona.

Ed died at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada around 12:30 PM on Sept. 1, 2013, from complications of a stroke. He will be dearly missed by his wife Kathy, his brother Bill Block of Prescott Valley, Kathy’s brother and sister-in-law John and Karyn Buehler of Portland, Oregon, and many friends and neighbors. He was always ready to lend a helping hand. His organs were donated to the Nevada Organ Donor program and a surgical team was on hand to share with others, so part of his spirit will live on in others.

Ed was pre-deceased by his brother Lyle B. Block, and his parents.
Ed wished to be cremated and his ashes placed at a favorite prospecting spot.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in his memory to APCRP.
Neal Du Shane
1224 Canvasback Court
Fort Collins, Colorado 80525

Memorial celebration of life is pending, info will be available from:
Lietz-Franze Funeral Home
21 Riviera Blvd.
Lake Havasu City, AZ
928-855-4949

Month: September 2013